Facebook Braces For Federal, State Antitrust Suits

Federal and state antitrust regulators could file lawsuits against Facebook very soon, Bloomberg reported on Monday, December 7, citing sources.

The social media giant could be accused of stifling rivals by taking advantage of its own powerful position, the sources said, per Bloomberg.

Lawsuits could be filed this week on behalf of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and a group of state attorneys general led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, according to the sources. The sources further told Bloomberg that on the state level, new lawsuits are being planned against Google and could be filed in the coming weeks.

The Google case will be up to President-elect Joe Biden’s administration to advance. The Facebook case will be handled by the next FTC chairman, unless the present chair Joe Simons, appointed by Trump, stays on with the agency, according to the Bloomberg report.

The upcoming lawsuits are expected to target Facebook’s reported antitrust violations. Two of the main complaints were from startup investors, privacy activists and antitrust experts following Facebook’s 2012 acquisition of Instagram for US$1 billion, and its 2014 acquisition of WhatsApp for US$22 billion. Simons has said antitrust enforcers should watch for bigger firms acquiring emerging startups in their same fields.

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